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- 3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool) during the Great War -


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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool)



   3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool) was based at Seaforth Barracks in Liverpool. Throughout the Great War they remained in the the UK on Home Defence and training duties.

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There are:0 items tagged 3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool) available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.


Those known to have served with

3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool)

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Blabey John Richard. Lt
  • Bloom Bertram. 2nd Lt. (d.30th June 1918)
  • Eade Alymer. 2nd Lt. (d.9th Oct 1917)
  • Hirst Gerald. 2Lt. (d.26th Feb 1917)
  • Light Earl Eustace. Pte.
  • Seddon George Edward. Pte. (d.19th Oct 1917)
  • Smith William. Pte.
  • Wheeler Henry Thornton Camden. Capt. (d.30th Oct 1916)

All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 3rd Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool) from other sources.


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  Lt John Richard "Jack" Blabey 17th Btn King's Liverpool Regiment

Jack Blabey was my maternal grandfather. In 1914, he was an upper sixth former at Liverpool College, where he had served in the Officers' Training Corps from 1911, reaching the rank of Corporal OTC. Along with OTC colleagues, Jack volunteered on 1914-08-28, at Lord Derby's invitation to form a 'Battalion of Pals'. Such was the uptake that three Battalions of Liverpool Pals (the first of the Pals Battalions) were provided for on that day.

Jack, however, was under-age, as the Attestation age for active service was 18 years and 6 months. However, Jack's name was taken and, in October, Jack received his papers to attend for duty.

By then, the first three Battalions were provided for, so he enlisted into the 20th Battalion - the '4th City Pals'.

The Pals Battalions spent months acquiring soldierly skills, and were short of officers. As OTC members, Jack and his colleagues knew much and were deemed to have officer-lie qualities. He was trained and commissioned into the 17th Battalion (1st City Pals) as a Second Lieutenant, KLR in February 1915.

Training of the Liverpool Pals Brigade was completed at Knowsley, Belton Park and Larkhill, before the Brigade was deployed to France, in the Somme sector, in November 1915.

The Liverpool Pals served with distinction in the Battle of the Somme, achieving their objectives on the first day, seizing the village of Montauban, with the 17th, 19th and 20th Battalions suffering relatively few casualties.

The 18th Btn suffered heavy casualties and required refitting before further service. Later in the battle, the Liverpool Pals were back in action, in an attempt to move forwards and take the village of Gillemonte, attacking over open ground and with German machine gunners firing from an enfilade on the left. As the attack progressed on 30th July, Jack suffered a serious head wound, when a German machine gunner sighted his platoon moving. Fortunately, he had his helmet pushed back as he scanned the horizon with his binoculars and his Brodie helmet stopped the bullet; however several shards of the helmet, which shattered, pierced the back of Jack's skull and knocked him out. He was found by his soldiers and recovered back to a field hospital, from where he was evacuated for a series of operations, over the next three months, to remove most of the shrapnel.

Jack was pronounced medically fit for active service in April 1917 and, in view of the seriousness of his wound, sent to a quiet front - the Macedonian Front, at Salonika. This was far from quiet, however, and Jack fought with the 14th Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment, including the action around Doiran and was wounded, once more, on active service, and also caught malaria. He was hospitalised and evacuated back to Britain, in August 1918.

In view of his injuries and malaria, Jack was no longer fit for overseas service, so was sent to help training with the 3rd Battalion KLR, then posted to their barracks in Cork.

So, while his First World War was over, he soon became tied up with the Anglo-Irish War, in which he lost two friends - but that is another story. Jack was demobbed in 1919, retaining his rank as Lieutenant.

Alan Cartwright






  2Lt. Gerald Hirst 3rd Btn. Kings Liverpool Regiment (d.26th Feb 1917)

Gerald Hirst, an officer with the Kings Liverpool Regiment was a 19 year old Bedwas boy who died saving a comrade from enemy fire in 1917. I would like to share with you the achievements of Year 9 pupils at Bedwas High School Caerphilly in their work commemorating a local hero from WW1. We would be most grateful if you could spare 10 mins of your time to view the animation and hopefully share it with whoever you so wish as a celebration of their efforts and in fitting memory to all those who sacrificed in service to our country.

Darren Latham






  Pte. William Smith 10th Btn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment

I don't know much about my great-grandfather, William Smith, only that he was born in Liverpool in November 1893 and went on to have 4 children with my great-grandmother, Harriet. Agnes & William, born before he enlisted to the army, then Bessie & Harry, born once he was discharged.

Outside of the Army, he was a fitters labourer as well as a music hall artiste and travelling showman. His family followed him up and down the country from theatre to theatre as he was booked here and there. Before last week I didn't even know William's name, today I am reading his attestation, service and discharge records for his time in the 10th and 3rd Battalions of the Kings (Liverpool) Regiment. From this I can see he was drafted on 25th of April 1916, starting life in the Army as a Private in the 10th Scottish Btn. Soon he was transferred to 3rd Scottish Btn and became a Lance Corporal. By the end of WWI he was in 1st Scottish Btn as a T/Acting Sergeant.

But more telling than this, I can also see that he was 5'7", with a 35" chest (expanded), blue eyes with scars on his forehead. I can also see he was submitted to hospital a few times due to a sceptic leg, as well as an illness I can't make out that gave him severe abdominal pain, before also spending 100 days in hospital for gonorrhoea (cleared before he returned home of course).

Unfortunately, a few years after my grandad, Harry, was born in 1921, William left his family never to be seen again. We understand he continued to perform on the stage. He may have married again and had additional children, we may never know.

Amy Carson






  2nd Lt. Bertram Bloom 3rd Btn. The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (d.30th June 1918)

Second Lieutenant Bloom is buried in the west part of the Currykippane Jewish Cemetery, Co. Cork, Ireland.

S Flynn






  Capt. Henry Thornton Camden Wheeler 3rd Btn. The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (d.30th Oct 1916)

Captain Wheeler was the son of Luke and Margaret Elizabeth Wheeler, husband of Mabel Wheeler of Ardentallan, Upper Sea Rd., Bexhill-on-Sea. Born at Torquay, Devon. He was aged 42 when he died whilst serving attached to the Gold Coast Regiment and is buried in the Gambaga European Cemetery in Gambaga, Ghana.

S Flynn






  Pte. Earl Eustace Light 3rd Btn. Kings Liverpool Regiment

My father, Earl Light, was born in Liverpool in 1896. He joined the Liverpool Regiment in 1914 in the 3rd Battalion and his number was 3/31924. We believe that the 3rd Battalion was a reserve battalion that never left the UK.

Sometime later he was in the Machine Gun Corps and his number was 3407. We don't know how or when he was transferred to the MGC, but as his service number was 3407, which was one of the earlier numbers of the MGC, we think he may have joined the MGC in late 1916 when the MGC was formed.

He was wounded twice and was sent to Alnwick Camp and is noted in the Liverpool Echo wounded list on 7th September 1917 and when fit again he was returned to the Front. It is thought that he was wounded in the 3rd Battle for Ypres between 30th July and 3rd August 1917.

He was discharged on 5th March 1919 with the report that he was fit and could be called up again if required. He died in February 1972

<p>Pte.Earl Light on his1st Birthday. the photo has the message somewhere in France

<p>Pte.Earl Light front right on stewards duty at Rugeley Camp

Philip Light






  Pte. George Edward Seddon 32nd Btn. Royal Fusiliers (d.19th Oct 1917)

I was researching my Grandmother's family and discovered she had a brother George Edward Seddon born in 1894. According to the documents I have found George was a Private in the 3rd Btn King's Liverpool Regiment but between, 27 June 1917 when he wrote his soldier's will and his death on 19 October 1917 he had been transferred to the 32nd Btn Royal Fusiliers.

John Murphy






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